ABSTRACT

Who has what and why in our societies is a pressing issue that has prompted explanation and exposition by philosophers, politicians and jurists for as long as societies and intellectuals have existed. It is a primary issue for a society to tackle this and these answers have been diverse.

This collection of essays approaches some of these questions and answers to shed light on neglected approaches to issues of distribution and how these issues have been dealt with historically, socially, conceptually, and practically. The volume moves away from the more dominating and traditionally cast understandings of distributive justice and shows novel and unique ways to approach distributive issues and how these can help enlighten our course of action and thought today by creating new pathways of understanding. The editors and contributors challenge readers by exploring the role and importance of restorative justice within distributive justice, exploring the long shadow of practices of trusteeship, and concepts of social and individual rights and obligations in welfare and economic systems, social protection/provision schemes, egalitarian practices and post-colonial African political thought.

Distributive Justice Debates in Political and Social Thought empowers the reader to cast a more critical and historically complete light on the idea of a fair share and the implications it has on societies and the individuals who comprise them.

chapter |6 pages

Introduction

Distributing Distributive Justice

part 1|70 pages

Historical Approaches to Distributive Justice

chapter 1|17 pages

A Right to Welfare

Historical and Philosophical Reflections

chapter 3|17 pages

Radical Distributive Justice

Fichte's The Closed Commercial State

chapter 4|21 pages

Social Darwinism and Social Justice

Herbert Spencer and the Poor

part 2|92 pages

Distributive Justice Reconsidered

chapter 5|28 pages

Dignity, Sociability and Capability

Exploring Nussbaum's Interpretation of Grotius

chapter 7|20 pages

Justice and Real Politics

Freedom, Needs and Representation

part 3|82 pages

New Horizons Beyond the West

chapter 9|20 pages

An African Theory of Social Justice

Relationship as the Ground of Rights, Resources and Recognition

chapter 10|21 pages

Social Protection and Justice

Poverty, Redistribution, Dignity

chapter |6 pages

Conclusion

Finding a Fair Share